What condition is your van in?

[ruralpost]

Just out of interest,how many miles have your vans done? And what condition are they in? My Ford Connect has almost done 90,000 miles,radiator is held in with cable ties,suspension is goosed which causes tyres to wear unevenly and when it rains the power steering is unpredictable. Apparently its something to do with the alternator/fan belt. It breaks down almost every week.

[wayoutman]

refuse to drive it

[Lounge Lizard]

Just out of interest,how many miles have your vans done? And what condition are they in? My Ford Connect has almost done 90,000 miles,radiator is held in with cable ties,suspension is goosed which causes tyres to wear unevenly and when it rains the power steering is unpredictable. Apparently its something to do with the alternator/fan belt. It breaks down almost every week.

I've never known a Royal Mail van any different.

[maisymoo04]

am in a transit 56 plate with 55000 on clock its in good nik,just been in for service 4 new tyres.and i even put it threw the van wash.

[youwot!!!!!]

i drive various vans of differing ages but the worst is an 04 plate with nearly half a million miles on the clock.
its a 7.5 tonner by the way.

[Stormproof]

I've been driving a 59plate Vauxhall Vivero. 10K on the clock and its all ready got a big scrape down one side and NO it was'nt me. We have to share our vans with distribution/collections but I think the damage was caused when the van was used as the duty van on another walk. There has been a couple of vans that I've refused to drive due to the filth inside them(including the one in the photo). I dread to think what some of these peoples homes/cars are like.

[OnAFlyer]

10k on a 59 plate? Ours are all 59 plates as well and most have around 1k miles on, mine has 990. 7-8 miles a day doesn't add up to much.

So the answer is, perfect condition, it even still smells new And as we use the same vans every day mine isn't full of shite left by some scruffy tramp.

[97gaz]

M

[scum_opg]

Just out of interest,how many miles have your vans done? And what condition are they in? My Ford Connect has almost done 90,000 miles,radiator is held in with cable ties,suspension is goosed which causes tyres to wear unevenly and when it rains the power steering is unpredictable. Apparently its something to do with the alternator/fan belt. It breaks down almost every week.

all the vans at the last DO i worked at were in good condition inside, apart from the 3 rural vans that were thick with dust in the drivers area...
exterior wise (from memory) only 4 had any dents or scrapes... again all 3 of the vans used on rurals had dents, dings, door handles missing etc...
the other one was a (full size) transit that had a large scrape/dent down the passengers side loading door...
mechanically though , i think the vans were decent condition... apart from the rural vans that had fuel tanks fall, front bumpers start to "sag" at one side... and the rear bumpers were dented at the corners

i cant remember mileage .. but the oldest vans there were a couple of 53 reg LDV pilots and a 505 Convoy...

the Pilot i drove regularly was tidy inside... no damage, seat didnt have any tears... which as we all know is rare...
only problem with it was the brakes were god awfull... they worked... they would pass an MOT.. but they were far from ideal... leading to the "defect" being noted in the defect book and being reported to the delivery managers, and/or PHGs at the time i think that Pilot was on 102000 miles and it was already 5 years old by the time i left the DO...

the DO i started in had an almost brand new fleet of combos... and a single Maxus crewbus. all of which were immaculate inside and out... although the DOM used to get cleaners to come out every few months to valet the van interiors... must have been bucking for a promotion

i think its fair to say that the vans that have dedicated drivers are in better condition inside than the ones that have different drivers every day etc...
but some of the rural vans i drove down to the workshop... i honestly dont know how anyone could let a van that they were working in for up to 6 hours a day, get into a state where your worried about breathing in.

personally i used to keep a carrier bag in my pouch so that if i was on a van duty, i could just put my empty bottles etc and/or used bands in it and toss it in the bin when i got back to the DO... its not hard ... but then again neither should keeping your "work place" tidy

[krussel]

I used to take really good care of my van It was an 08 Combo which i had from new and used to wash it every couple of weeks on a quiter day. Also used to keep a packet of wet wipes in the glove box to keep the dash clean.

Then i went on hols and they put it on the afternoon SA collection rota Chip papers, Macdonald's cartons and spilled cans of coke all over the inside. It started to look very much like storms photo

I cleared it out a few times but every time i washed it i found a new dent or scrape which no one ever knew anything about

In the end i lost heart and for the last few weeks before the revision i did not bother and it became a tip.

Dont miss the agg now iam on a bike /trolley and tend to enjoy my driving more these days as well.

[Bahia Feliz]

My van is a 54 reg combi 71,000 miles,We still have quite a few 54/55 reg vans but now getting a lot of new 11 reg 'bippers',I want to keep my combi van!

[maisymoo04]

I've been driving a 59plate Vauxhall Vivero. 10K on the clock and its all ready got a big scrape down one side and NO it was'nt me. We have to share our vans with distribution/collections but I think the damage was caused when the van was used as the duty van on another walk. There has been a couple of vans that I've refused to drive due to the filth inside them(including the one in the photo). I dread to think what some of these peoples homes/cars are like.

we all say that storm NO IT WASNT ME HAHA

[wannabe]

Most of the vans at my SPDO are filthy. Clearly haven't been cleaned in months/years, enough dust/dirt/gravel in the footwells to start a small farm, just as thick dust all over the dash, floor mats so knackered you get your foot stuck when trying to operate the pedals, f****d suspension causing uneven tyre wear, etc. etc.! Worst is 07-plate Transit Connect with about 36k miles, it's pretty much dead but they won't replace it. The rest are 57/08-plate Combos on 25-30k miles. They're mainly driven by a single driver each, but they just don't have the time/inclination to keep them tidy. It doesn't help that reserves from out of the office take them and rag them silly. One van has deteriorated quite rapidly whilst the normal guy has been on holiday and his duty's been covered by a bloke who gets done 2-3hrs quicker.

[DH73]

I used to share a full-size transit with one other driver. It had done 92,000 miles (55-reg), but now I have a nice shiny new 11 reg Combo. We have got an 05-reg Transit with 175,000 miles on the clock. It is well and truly knackered, but just keeps on going. The worst vans in our DO are the 5 seater Maxus LDVs. They are all utter s**t and look like mobile dustbins - they will be gone in a few weeks when the last of the sections to get P&L get their new motors.

Shitty vans is nothing new, we had plenty of knackered Sherpas back in 1991 when I started driving for RM.

[luddite]

Mine's a combo with 95 000 on the clock, dents on all the corners, zip ties holding everything together including the gear linkage, won't go into second until it's warmed up and handles like a plate of sick!!
I used to keep it tidy but sadly I haven't got the time now I can honestly say that I haven't washed it this year, doubt I will next year either!